Practical Photography

When setting up a photography company or sometimes even going it alone it is always good to market your self and get some kind of corporate id or logo design.

By building a brand image you look much more professional and can help protect your images if you use it for a watermark on your images. This will stop illegal reproduction. I have sent emails of particular images to clients so they can choose which ones they want printed out ant they have just printed them out from the email and not ordered.

A good logo can contribute to your marketing and sales strategies as you can start to get recognised. A logo can be replicated across website design, stationary and other direct mail campaigns. I always say getting your brand name around as much as possible is integral to any Marketing campaign, repetition leads to recognition which leads to respect and trust of the company.

You should invest into a good logo design as if this falls short if you are constantly changing your logo you need to to make sure you agree with what the logo represents and is futureproof.

A good designer will discuss with you what your company represents and your ethics (if any ) so that they can come up with an identity that may incorporate this. The best designs are simple but effective. My favourite logo designs are fed ex, which has an arrow in the negative space between the E and the X. I also like the Mother and Child logo which uses an ampersand representing a foetus in the womb.

Sony have upped their game yet again and unveiled a 12.25-million-pixel CMOS imaging sensor, this looks great but  for camera’s but these aren’t meant for cameras. They are being released to improve the quality of Camera phones. This will close the gap in the standard of compact cameras to camera phones and may even be the first steps to making typical point and shoot digital cameras obsolute to move over for all singing all dancing camera phones.

These sensors should be released in Spring next year alongside previews of the new f/2.8 lens module, which is designed to produce the 35mm viewing angle equivalent of a 28mm optic. This new lens should be available for purchase next September.

Sony claims the 12.25MP sensor is the industry’s first  and smallest sensor that also has the highest pixel count.

Camera phones have become all the rage since their release and have been improving over the years some phones starting to boast 5 and 8 megapixel quality. As most people now have a mobile phone it seems to make sense to have a good camera so you don’t need to carry both around with you.

Camera phones have become more stylish and better quality images but have not yet managed to overtake compact digital cameras that are also improving.

This new technology developed by Sony could change all of that, Camera phones have smaller sensors which risk ‘image degradation’, Sony’s new  sensor’s have a ‘unique pixel structure’ which should help deliver high sensitivity levels and high signal-to-noise ratio.

The sensors ) will be able to record images at a continuous image burst rate of around 10 frames per second! The sensor’s image diameter area is only 7.1mm and they will also release a sensor that is a 8.11MP sensor which according to Sony should deliver up to 15 frames per second!

Compact Cameras should be quaking in their boots!

The iPhone has taken the world by storm but it does have a few glitches that Apple are trying to sort out. One man is using this well known fact to defend himself after his wife found a picture message sent to a female friend with a photo of his… erm… meat and two veg.

The man claimed that his iphone had taken a photo of his private parts and then sent it to a female friend. What is even more unbelivable than this story is that other iphone users have backed him up!

My phones have often called people but that was due to me leaving it unlocked in my pocket never has my phone taken a photo then sent it to someone. And I cannot imagine how the man would be in the position for his phone to accidently take such a photo?

Many people think this is a wind up or just a cover story, but why would other people back him up? I think they are just covering their own backs for their own deception and the glitches in iphone software is a good excuse.

When editing images you can spend hours getting the picture right but always keep copies of the originals in RAW aswell as JPEG or TIFF formats.

I always keep an archive of my work on a cd or DVD and then duplicate the discs for insurance. DVD or CD Duplication is a good way to ensure your back ups are backed up, especially for commissioned work as multiple orders could be made at a later date. Some clients pay top dollar for a copy of the CDs aswell so it can be good to go to the professionals and get your corporate id or logo printed on the disc aswell, or even one of the images from the shoot.

It is very important to back up your work with hard copies as if anything were to happen to your computer then your whole portfolio of work could be lost. It is important to back your work up on discs but as an extra safeety measure I duplicate these discs and keep them in a different place, ie one copy in the studio/office one copy at home as discs can get scratches, go missing or even be stolen.

You might think this is a bit of a paranoid thing to do but if you have any particularly good images or any photos of celebrities you’d be suprised how they may ‘go missing’. If you think of it in the same way as you would keep accounts most businesses have multiple copies of contracts and accounts records on a database, paper copies and duplicates filed at another location in case of fire or theft. The same should be applied for your photography work.

In the credit crunch designers are relying more and more on stock photography, stock photography is photography that has been uploaded onto sites by photographers and can be bought and used again and again.

Designers often comission photography for there work and have a specific idea in mind. The designer usually art directs on the shoot and togther the team get the desired results. Comissioning a shoot such as this is time consuming and costly and the funds are paid for by the client.

In this recession it seems designers are having to bring their quotes down and the easiest way is to take out the expenxe of a custom shoot. The end result will not be as good but you can generally find something decent in stock images and they can be downloaded for a minimal fee.

But how will this affect photographers, the amount of money made through stock photography is minimal compared to a shoot which can cost up to £1500 per day and that is not including model fees if you are using models.

Photographers lively hoods rely on commissioned shoots whether it is editorial, commercial or personal this is where the money is made. Stock photography is a good way to earn a little more money but is definately not a sustainable way to earn a living. If designers begin this trend of only using stock photography it will have a knock on effect on the whole industry as models will no longer be used and only well established photographers will get the commisioned works leaving the rest of us to do baby portraits and the odd wedding.

Model, Presenter, DJ, fashionista and now Photographer, Alexa Chung is launching a new photography project for Charity in alliance with Vice Magazine and Ctrl. Alt. Shift.

Alexa is an accomplished photographer and is offering her services as a mentor to young photographers, along with 4 others. As an advisor Alexa will offer advice and support to the budding photographers.

The project is sponsored by Vice Magazine and Ctrl. Alt. Shift. to raise awareness to global poverty, and social injustice. The project ‘Gender, Power and Poverty’, the photos should touch on gender issues the organisers felt that only by re visiting predjucices on gender gaps can we continue to work towards equality. They recommend looking into subjects such as women voters, women in power and viloence to and by women.

5 finalists get to work with a mentor and the winner’s work will be featured online and in Vice Magazine. They will also be displayed in the Association of Photographers gallery in London early next year and will receive a cash prize of £1,000.

The mentors work will also be exhibited in the gallery so be good to see Alexa Chungs images. The other mentors are, Ben Raynor, Andy Capper,Valerie Phillips and Alex Sturrock all well established photographers. The competition was organised by Nan Golding.

After yesterdays article I felt I should respond! Photographers should respect the law, the law has been put in place to protect the innocent (although some would agree 14 and 15 year olds aren’t so innocent). The reason these laws have been put in place is because of people abusing these rights.

I don’t see it as an infringement on my rights that laws are protecting other people, not every one means well and children are vulnerable we as photographers should support the government that we protect youths from malicious people.

If it means we cannot take as many ad hoc images then that is the price we will have to pay to protect children. It is selfish to think of a loss of revenue rather than young lives being saved and protected.

You can still take great pictures without using children and if you have to go to the trouble of getting permission to use the images.

Could this be the end of street photography?

Street photography is a dying art as if you snap a youth under the age of 15 you need permission to use the images from a parent or guardian.

This rule is obviously put in place to protect children, especially from paedophiles but is it going too far? The ad hoc images of street photography are taken on the spur of the moment, even as a youth may skate past a photographer can get an image. So then it would be very hard for the photographer to track down the individual and ask to get the contact for their parent or guardian and then get written consent to use the images.

This will probably mean the end of these journalistic and charismatic photographs that represent real streets, we will have to be subjected to staged images set up by modelling agencies and photographers to achieve a faux composition!

I think it is saddening that this style of photography should die out because the polititcians cannot tell the difference between a paedaphile and a well meaning photographer trying to make a living.

To raise money for Children in need my friend is doing free portfolio and portrait shoots, he has set up a mini studio for quick but good quality photos. The lighting has been tested to be flattering and shouldn’t need too much adjustments to get a great shot.

The idea is to do almost a conveyor belt style photoshoot where people donate £5 and get 2 high quality shots with no fuss or hassle. One shot will be a close up the other a sitting/ standing portrait depending on what you want. The images are unedited but taken with a professional camera by a professional so good value for money and you get to go to heaven as the mpney goes to charity.

This is great since vanity is a sin, so you can balance out the sin with the charitable gesture.

Playboy magazine are after copies of Cheetah photographs… no don’t worry lads they haven’t turned to wildlife they are after nudes of ex Cheetah girl Adrienne Bailon.

The photos were leaked over the internet of the Disney star and have been hot property after Playboy tried to get hold of the images. The star Adrienne was made famous by the Disneys The Cheetah Girls, this is a far cry away from the wholesome image Disney is trying to promote even if magazines such as playboy are prepared to pay over the odds for the images.

This controversial story has been fuelled further with suspicions the star leaked the images herself as a pr stunt to gain a more … erm… sophiticated audience?